Tortellini

FADE IN


1INT: KITCHEN/ DAY 1 3 p.m. The working line of a restaurant kitchen. Cooks shuffling around setting up for a Saturday night. Steam rising from steam table, several sauce pots on the 12 burner stove.A steamer in the background hissing away and the sounds of knives on cutting boards fill throughout the kitchen. Two chefs work in side by side stations, Ed,mid 30’s is setting up the middle expediting station and John early 30’s, next to him setting up sauté, not looking to good and moving kind of slow.

Ed
John, what, did you go out after work last night.

John
Yea, a couple of us went out to the Den, I didn’t get home until seven this morning.

Ed
You look like 25 miles of unpaved road, give or take a mile, if thathelps.

John taps his knife on the cutting board in front of him, and piles up a handful of diced shallots and puts them in a small stainless steel pan as his slowly nods his head in acceptance of his hangover, realizing he has a long night in front of him.

John
(angrily)
Ahh, yea that’s just great………it helps me a lot, thanks

Ed laughs at the expense of John, also knowing John is in for a long night. Ed turns around and stirs his sauces on the stove, tastes them with his finger and adds a pinch of salt and pepper to them CONTINUE

Ed
C’mon John relax would ya, you’ll be just fine, don’t worry (beat)
Anyway it’s me I’m worried about because I’m gonna get stuck carrying your ass

John stops his work and looks up at Ed and opens his mouth and takes a deep breath and is about to say something when Ed interrupts.

Ed Aren’t you getting a little old for this (laughing)… just kidding
(beat)
Anyway, but seriously, do you know what’s on the books tonight
John
I don’t know, we’re on a need to know basis, they don’t tell us shit, we’re like CIA operatives.
(beat)
Plus I didn’t see Mike yet, I don’t even know if he’s here
(beat)
Not that it would matter anyway, the way he fuckin’ counts its like some kind of new math.

Ed
laughing)
Aint that the truth, I don’t understand him…he doesn’t like telling us for some unknown reason, not that it matters it’s never right anyway.

John
No kidding, he’s not all there upstairs…you know, remember that time he had his shoes on the wrong feet He’s not the brightest bulb in the box..

CUT TO

2 INT ANOTHER DAY; SERVERS AREA 2 We see a close up shot of a pair of feet walking with the shoes on the wrong feet.
The shot widens to show Mike walking past the coffee machine saying good morning to
Ed and John who are each getting a cup of coffee. and both notice Mike’s shoes as he
passes, they both look at each other with full mouths of coffee they turn from each other
as they do a spit take. CUT TO



3 INT/ KIT/DAY 3
Ed
Damn, you are hung over aren’t you, you’re bitchy

John
What the hell, I’ve got a headache, leave me alone

Ed begins to cut some chives and chop parsley for garnish, while John starts chopping herbs and vegetables for his ‘mise en place’. Mean while other cooks are walking around each setting up their stations passing Ed and John to get on and off the line. A radio is playing quietly in the back part of the kitchen.
The Executive Chef, a middle aged man of European decent, walks up to the line and places some food in the reach in near the sauté station.

Chef
(with a slight European accent)
What’s on the books tonight, did anybody say

Ed and John look at each other shaking their heads and laughing and then look at the Chef shrug their shoulders.
John
We were just talking about that, you know they don’t tell us.
(sarcastically)
You know it keeps it kind of exciting that way.

Ed
Well you know whatever it is, they’re all coming in at 7 because..
(beat)
all right so I don’t know why,, maybe it’s Mike’s favorite number, or maybe it’s as high as he can count, who knows.. Hey, here he comes let’s ask him.

Just then Mike, who is in his late 30’s a slender build and somewhat awkward hurries by without acknowledging anyone, with a garden hose looped on his arm, heading towards the dining room, Ed, John and Chef all watch him and then look back at each other.
CONTINUE John
I really wouldn’t doubt it, I really fucking wouldn’t…. All right, I’m going to the loading dock for a quick smoke, let me know if you
hear anything.

They all laugh , and go about their final setup for the dinner shift.John exits thru a doorway leading out to the loading dock.The Chef goes back to the prep kitchen to finish the specials for the night and Ed fills up the steam table with the finished sauces from the stove and starts singing to himself.

DISSOLVE TO


4INT: KITCHEN/ANOTHERANGLE 4

A bit later now, about 4:15 - Ed is on the line talking to other cooks, Joe, the food runner walks in to get dressed for his shift with his girlfriend Amy, early 20’s who is a server.

Joe
Hey guys, what’s going on

Ed
Yo Joe what’s ups, what’s going on Amy

Amy
Hi

Joe
Ready to have some fun tonight Ed
Oh yea, ready as always,… Come on ten o’clock

Joe and Amy walk thru the kitchen door out of sight on their way upstairs to the changing rooms. Off screen saying hello to John as he enters the kitchen line again.
As John enters the line Mike approaches the line from the dining room. Mike is well dressed but somewhat tense and hair a bit out of place most of the time. He stops at the window leans down to see thru it.

CONTINUE Mike
(semi-deep voice)
Good afternoon gentlemen, how are you today

Ed
I’m doing pretty good, so far and yourself

John
Hey Mike what’s up

Mike

I’m doing just fine ,thanks. Did anyone tell you what’s on the books.

Ed Not yet

Mike
Well we have about 85
Ummm…no big tables, except a 12 top around 7:45.

Ed
Anything early

Mike
Aahhh, (rubbing his chin thinking) a couple tables around 6, the push is ,you know, all around 7:00-8:15.

John
Yea that’s pretty much what we figured

Ed
(looking at John, with a slight smile)
Alright, thanks

Mike
No problem. Now do you guys have the specials, or does the Chef have them?

John
Chef has them in the back

CONTINUE Mike
Gottcha, Thanks

Mike leaves through the door to the back of the kitchen to find the Chef.

John
So what did he say, 85?

Ed
Yea, were looking at about 65, 70 tops minus the 12 top it should be an easy 50, 55, mind you now, I said it should be.

Joe and Amy come back down, Joe stops at the line and Amy keeps walking to her server area to begin her setup. Joe shuffles some loose napkins around and straightens up his area. Ed turns the heat lamps on and the lights for the service window on, and wipes down the window. The line is set up now and ready for the 5 0’clock opening.

Ed
Here’s the deal Joe, Mike said we have 85 in the books, so we’re figuring 65 -70ish including a 12 top.

Joe
Yea that sounds about right, we’ll have a good night and get the hell out of here by 10, I don’t want this to cut into my drinking time

Ed
God forbid

DISSOLVE TO

5 INT: KITCHEN/ EARLYEVENING 5 5:30pm there are 4 cooks on the line now including Ed and John. The Chef periodically pokes his head up on the line to check on things. No orders in yet John and Ed are talking about the equipment setup.

CONTINUE John
You see we really need to reorganize this line.
(pointing at 2 stoves side by side )
We need to lower this one to the same height of this one This thing (motioning at the steamer)baddabing overthere;(pointingto a stove further down the line) that, bam right here, you follow me. Get rid of one of these fryers, free up all this space and we’re set.How about that. Ed
(rubbing his chin and nodding)
Yea I’m following you with that, it works for me, just run it by your buddy Mike. John
He ain’t my buddy


The first order of the night rings through the printer, Ed turns around to get it, and tears it from the machine.

Ed
Well this starts the night off great for me, freakin’ tortellini sampler Have I ever told you how much I can’t stand these things.

John
Everyday

Ed
sorry, but I really do

6 INT KITCHEN/CONTINUOUS 6
Ed walks over to a reach in refrigerator. The camera cuts to a close up of the door handle as we see Ed’s hand reaching and then grabbing it. There’s a short pause and then a quick jerk to open it.The camera cuts to a wide shot of the interior of the reach in and we see very crowded shelves with metal and plastic containers. He fumbles through several plastic containers all with lids snapped on, mumbling and grumbling to find the 3 containers he needs. He awkwardly grabs the containers and turns to place them on a small table behind him with them all sliding off of each other just as he makes it to the table.

CONTINUE Ed
(while opening the lids)
Fucking tortellini’s

As Ed gathers the tortellini to put in them steamer we here…

(off screen)
Oh my God……

There’s some commotion near the service line, as Ed walks back on the line to the steamer. Kathy, a young server in her mid 20s, is laughing nervously as she comes in view.

Kathy
Oh my God…. I can not believe it…some guy just lit his menu on fire, while he was reading it, the candle on the table lit it up. I started
laughing but I didn’t know what to do, so his girlfriend or wife or whatever, threw her drink on it….
(beat)
A vodka straight up….Oh my God, you should have seen the flames shooting right at the poor guy.

Now we see a few more servers coming from the dining room towards the kitchen, all laughing quietly and talking about the fire. Mike is just a few steps behind them, as he approaches everyone straightens up and stops laughing,except of course the kitchen staff.


Mike
(to Kathy)
Get the man a towel, get the lady a new drink, take their order then give me the check, I’ll take care of it.


Mike turns and proceeds to the front door and we see half of his suit coat tucked into his pants, no one tells him, Kathy grabs some clean bar mops and the other servers go about their business still whispering about what had happened.

Ed
(to Joe)
Why does he have to give food away all the time, it’s the peoples fault for torching the place, why cant he just give them free drinks..
Why does the kitchen always have to cover for you guys

CONTINUE


Joe
(banging his fist in the service window, gritting teeth)
How many times have I said , “I’m not one of them”, I’m the food runner, I’m just the middle man. Don’t get mad at me.

Ed
I’m not mad (turning away, quietly, quickly) even though you're one of them

Joe
I heard that, and Im NOT one of them

Ed
(smiling)
Whoa, all right, all right, I’m just jokin’ with ya…….jeeze We now here the printer sounding off and see orders coming in. The camera pans down the line and over to the servers area. Servers in the background are moving about, getting bread for their tables, drinks, walking with trays. There is an overall sense of ‘getting down to business’ setting in. Off screen we hear Ed calling out orders to the other cooks. We can hears pans clanging, food sizzling. reach-in doors opening and closing.

FADE OUT:


The screen is black, and we here the shuffling of a busy restaurant line. Muffled in the
backround Ed is calling out and picking up food orders.

Ed
(off screen)
Pick up two duck,one rare one medium a salmon and a filet medium rare


FADE IN

7 INT/ KIT. NIGHT 7 The camera has a close up shot of the kitchen clock ,it displays 9:00. Ed’s voice is getting louder as his continuously calls out orders. The camera moves down the line until it’s at Ed’s station.
CONTINUE



8 INT/KIT NIGHT 8

Ed’s POV, we look directly at the printer, with paper hanging off of it as he reaches for it and calls out the order and then hangs it with the other dozen or so orders.


Ed
Ordering 2 filet mignons one well,….. that’s nasty and one medium-medium well.



9 INT/KIT NIGHT, DIFFERENT ANGLE 9

Ed hangs up the order, and shakes his head in wonderment,

Ed
Why do they do this, what exactly is medium- medium well….just pick one,……

Barry, a young man, early 20’s, very uptight and angry at the world, who is working the grill, is utterly annoyed, and proceeds to get in Joe’s face through the line.
Barry
(to Joe)
What the fuck is this shit, there’s no such thing…do they want it medium or medium well.

Joe
How the hell do I know , did you see me out there taking the order


Ed
Yo Barry relax, just cook the freakin’ thing medium, if it comes back we’ll just cook it up a temp.

Barry
Yea well it looks bad on me if things are coming back

CONTINUE Ed
Don’t worry about it… I’ll take the blame for it


John
(to Barry)
It’s not like you need anything else coming back right now, do ya,I think I saw more food in the past week come back to us then went out

Barry
(giving John the finger)
Shut the fuck up

Ed
Would both of you shut the fuck up so we can get this night over with
(beat)
Thanks,…. now can we pick up another duck and a lamb rack.

John
(yelling off screen to the dishwasher)
We need plates and bowls to the line, pronto amigo

The crew continues to plate food, the orders have stopped coming in but there are still quite a few dupes hanging. The clean stack of plates in the service window which are staying hot are nearly depleted.

Ed
Looks like the end is near……

Just then Roberto, a young dishwasher, about 18, enters the line carrying and large stack of dinner plates. Obviously struggling to carry then because of their weight, he stumbles past John towards Ed and then they slip and come crashing down,shattering on the floor and creating an ear deafening sound. Ed (POV) watches as they crash in slow motion. Cut to a wide angle, still in slow motion, we see Ed and John both looking at the shattered plates, as one which didn’t break is still spinning on the floor. Roberto is just staring at the plates, with a look of fright on his face.
Ed and John both look up at the same time and look at Roberto… as we pick up to normal speed.

11 CONTINUE John
What the fuck…..

Ed
(same time as John)
What are you doing………Jeeezus. cant we just have one night that doesn’t turn into a soap opera.

Barry
We need a clean up on aisle 3

Ed
(kicking the glass)
C’mon get this shit cleaned up ….fast

Roberto runs from the line ,off screen to get a broom and a dustpan. Ed and John are pushing the pieces of shattered plates with their shoes out of their way. Both are checking over their stations to make sure no glass flew into their mise en place. They quickly wipe down their cutting boards just in case, and toss away the rags.

John
I think we’re safe, looks like it all just hit the floor. That’s all we would need…

Ed
You’re telling me… I’m getting a migrane …..Where’s Roberto John
(yelling off screen to Roberto)
Yo amigo, let’s go….what are you on a siesta, c’mon mucho platos aqui

Roberto enters the line again with the broom. He starts sweeping the broken plates from the line, Ed and John are having trouble working around him. They both stumble a bit and start kicking the glass off the line.
Joe is running food to the tables and approaches the line.

Joe
(tapping his hand in the window)
Ed, I really need tables 36, they’ve been waiting awhile

CONTINUE Ed
Okay, I know but does anyone care that I’m in a bit of a crisis here,I could slice my foot off in all this glass

Mike comes from the dining room up to the line. He looks over the counter to see
Roberto sweeping all the plates. His shakes his head in disbelief.

Mike
How many plates did he break, I could hear it all the way to the front desk.

Barry
(quietly)
Yea, nobody’s hurt..thanks

John
It wasn’t that many, (defending Roberto), It just sounded loud since we don’t have the floor mats down. It was maybe 5 or 6

Mike looks at the pile of broken plates to try to eye up the damage

Mike
It looks like a lot more then that, are you sure

John
Yea, roughly

Barry
(laughing)
Hey Roberto, when you see china on your paycheck, it doesn’t mean you’re going on a trip


As Roberto finishes sweeping, Joe is still waiting for food, tapping his hands in the window like a drummer. Mike walks over to the dupes hanging up and studies then for a few seconds, he checks the times on them and then looks at his watch.

Mike
Joe ,how are we looking, any of these fired yet




CONTINUE Joe
Everything is cool, except for table 36, they’ve been waiting for a while.

Mike takes another look at the dupes, and then peers thru the window as if he knows what he is looking for on the stove and grill and then back at the dupe.

Mike
Ed, is table 36 coming, they’ve been waiting a while, they’re V.I.P.’s

Ed
Yes, its coming, we had a bit of a problem back here

Mike
I understand, I just need it as soon as possible Ed
No problem, we’re plating it up now, Barry give the sirloin medium and the pork chop, John slide me over the Waloo and the Chilean sea bass.

Mike picks from a plate in the window and exits to the dining room with a yellow post it note stuck on the back of his thigh. Ed gets the food and puts the finishing touches on it. He shakes his head and somewhat arrogantly tosses the plates in the window for Joe to run out.

Ed
Did he just eat from the plate, that’s so professional.Here’s your table 36 for the V.I.P.’s, I hope they don’t care their plates are being eaten from before they even get it, anyway who’s not a VIP around here.

John
(sarcastically)
Ya know what I noticed Ed
Yea what’s that

John
Now tell me if I wrong, but …. the first time you come in youre a VIP, they’re just so estatic that you came in……..

CONTINUE Ed
Right
John
The next time you come in, you’re a VIP because now you’re a repeat customer……. Whatever happen to the time when VIP really meant something.

Ed
Oh it still does……just not here…..let me pick up that duck and a salmon.

Amy comes up to Joe and tells hims there is one more deuce sat and she is trying to take the order, but they want to know if the kitchen can cook anything Kosher.

Joe
Ed, Amy has the last table, a deuce, but they want to know if you can make any Kosher meals.

Ed stops and looks at Joe and then at Amy and then back at Joe with a perplexed look on his face.

Ed
How am I supposed to make a Kosher meal….don’t you need a Rabbi on the premises to supervise and bless things or something.
We’re all Gentiles here, I don’t have a clue.

Amy
I don’t know, do you think I’m having a good time out there.You don’t have to deal with these people…just tell me something you can make so I can get the hell out of here, please.

Ed
I cant tell you anything, why don’t you ask them what they want.Sorry, but I don’t know what else to tell you.

Amy turns away aggravated and storms out to the dining room, smacking the wall as she turns the corner with her guest book.

CONTINUE Ed
to Joe)
Sorry but I really don’t know what to tell you (shrugging shoulders)

Joe
Hey it’s not your fault, for once (laughing)

Ed
Why do these people do that, if you don’t like the menu then why come in…whadda you mean, for once

Joe just shrugs his shoulders and smiles
. John
Because they’re all VIP’s

Ed
(laughing)
Yea, I guess so……but think about this…it’s like going into an Italian restaurant and asking for Chinese food or going into a diner and expecting gourmet food, c’mon …now I’m really getting
pissed off.

John
Now dig this …when I worked at La Villa Trattoria…I got these people who would pull this shit like, ‘I’m allergic to garlic, I cant have any in my food’ then what the fuck are you coming into an Italian restaurant for…
(beat)
It blows my mind

Ed
Some people are just clueless…… if they want a special menu then hire a private chef

John
What a business…..you know what else…..specials… when they’re just not special enough for these people… they feel they need to help us to make them better. CONTINUE Ed
(angrily) Yea well how would they feel if I go to their office and start re-arranging the desks. You know I don’t like your pencils in this drawer, I think I’ll move them over here, or I don’t like you computer screen on this side of the desk let me move it over there.
How’d you think they would like that.

Ed angrily points his fingers on the direction of the dining room, and then looks at John

Ed
Huh,… How do you think they would
( beat)
Man I’m really getting worked up, can you tell. (smiling)

John
Yea a little bit

Ed
It’s your fault

John
Okay ….it’s my fault

Ed
(smiling)
Whatever, I need a vacation


Just then Amy’s last order of the night rings in.. Ed looks at it, laughs and shakes his head in disbelief

Ed
(annoyed)
What’s this…….I don’t believe it…. are you serious
Ed is looking at Amy as she rounds the corner coming to the line.
She has a huge grin on her face and she’s holding her arms in the air with her hands open.

CONTINUE Amy
Don’t ask me… I have no idea…these people are so drunk, they don’t know what they are ordering, they were sitting at the bar for the past hour and a half,… they’re a little wasted….

Ed
Yea a little

Amy
I don’t know what all that Kosher shit was about, but that’s the order

Ed
All right, whatever ,… ordering a filet mediem rare and umm…, a pork chop medium….go figure.

The kitchen staff looks stunned at the order for abrief moment, they all kind of glance at each other waiting for Ed to say it was just a joke.


John
(shaking his head)
Fucking figures

DISSOLVE TO

10 INT/KIT/ NIGHT 10

10:30 pm and the night is finally over and the kitchen staff is cleaning up.Ed is finishing up in the middle station, giving the last wipe down. All food is put away for the night. John is sweating as the final bits of alcohol are depleted from his body.
As we look down the line, there’s no reminence of the night that preceeded. Equipment is all turned off, counters clean, alls quiet with a peaceful calm in the air.

Ed
Well I guess that’s about it for the night, are you done

John
Yeah I’m done, and you know what I’m feeling a lot better,in fact after a night like this , I need a drink, I’m going out, You wanna come?

CONTINUE Ed
No..no thanks, I’m going straight home, I’m beat

As the two are about to leave the line and change to go home, Mike walks past the line and stops his tie is tucked in his shirt and his hair a mess

Ed
Hey Mike, were finished

Mike
Oh okay aaahh, How do you mean finished,
Finished for tonight or finished like that’s all were doing for today or finished like, we’re finished everything until Monday

Ed and John are looking at Mike very confused, for a moment they look at each other
and then back at Mike..

Ed
We’re finished



CUT TO BLACK


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